The Supreme Court.

Mobocracy must not be allowed; SC wants new law to deal with lynching

Congress to raise lynching, women's safety in monsoon session

Agency Report | New Delhi | 17 July, 2018 | 11:30 PM

The Supreme Court has asked Parliament to enact a new law to prevent and punish lynching. It is sad that the solution to every problem in this country is a new law, but not making sure the police do their job. There is no dearth of laws. The Supreme Court judgement says action should be taken against negligent policemen etc., but in the absence of police autonomy, this is going nowhere. Even if you create a new law, the police will botch up investigations as it has been doing in so many cases of lynching.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday condemned mob lynching incidents across the country and urged Parliament to enact a law to deal with the crime that threatens rule of law and the country’s social fabric.

“It is the duty of the State to maintain law and order, social and pluralistic fabric of the society and the rule of law,” bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkqar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said.

Pronouncing the judgement, Chief Justice Misra said that no one can take the law into their own hands or become a law unto himself.

Issuing a slew of directions including preventive, remedial and punitive steps to deal with the crime, the court said that mobocracy will not be allowed.

Asking the Centre to file a compliance report on its directions, the court adjourned the matter to August 20.

The judgment came on a petition seeking the apex court’s intervention to curb the incidents of violence by the vigilante groups across the country.
The Congress party will raise the issues of mob lynching and women’s safety besides many other important matters in Parliament’s monsoon session which begins on Wednesday.

“To make this session a success, we will support the government. We hope we will be allowed to highlight important issues of the country,” senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge said at a press conference here.

He said that in Monday’s all-party meeting, it was decided that the opposition would raise some important issues in the session.

“We have come to a conclusion that this government has failed to keep its promises in the last four years,” Kharge said.

Slamming the government over rise in mob lynching cases, the Congress Lok Sabha member said: “Lynching, cow vigilantism and felicitating lynchers has become a norm across the country. We want to discuss this issue during this session.”

He maintained that the Narendra Modi government has failed on every front. It has not been able to fulfil the promises they made in their manifesto like providing employment to the youth and many others, Kharge pointed out.

“We want to know from the government how many jobs were created and how much investments we received (in the last four years.”

Referring to the Thomson Reuters report, the Congress leader said: “After the latest report on woman safety in India, we believe it is an important issue and needs to be discussed.”

“We also want to discuss the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to strengthen and restore it. The government is trying to abolish reservation in appointments to the vacant faculty positions in the universities. We will be raising this issue as well,” he said.

The opposition parties would also be raising the issue of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, which received about Rs 745 crore within first five days after demonetisation was executed.

“The Congress as a responsible party wants Parliament to function,” he underlined. (IANS)